Take a step back in time for a moment. Before the recession hit, all the way back in 2005, when Volkswagen brazenly resurrects the vaunted Bugatti brand in the form of a million-dollar, 987-hp hypercar called the Veyron 16.4. Production is capped at 300 coupes, all of which sell out by 2011. A roofless version called Grand Sport is introduced four years later, with production capped at 150 units. Then sales sloooowww dooooowwwwnnn. Now nearly five years on, the price has ballooned to a base price of nearly $2 million—add another quarter mil or more for the 1200-hp Vitesse—and only 110 or so of the 150 planned convertibles have been sold, leaving another 40 of the beastly Bugs yet to be claimed. What’s more, Bloomberg has been told that Bugatti won’t cut short Grand Sport production in order to introduce its replacement. In fact, it won’t even show the car’s successor until all 40 are claimed.

Blame the recession. Blame currency fluctuations. Blame newfound competition from the likes of Ferrari, McLaren, Pagani, and Porsche, among others. Or simply blame the fact that billionaire braggarts who might be in the market for the world’s fastest roadster simply may not want a car that’s been around in some form for nearly a decade and, frankly, was never terribly beautiful to begin with. Either way, Bugatti’s now got some pricey metal to move.

So how, exactly, does Bugatti unload twoscore of its handmade hypercars in an unusually crowded segment? First, it earmarks some of them for unique special editions—Bugatti has already produced three of its six-car Legend Series that pays homage to important individuals in Bugatti’s history. Second, it invites buyers to experience the car at special, weekend-long high-lux dynamic drive programs, four of which are currently planned over the course of the year in the U.S.—much like Bugatti has been doing elsewhere in the world. Certainly, justifying the price of a Bugatti seems far more appealing once you’ve shot down a rented airport runway at 175 mph, and apparently Bugatti knows it.

Bugatti’s U.S. sales director John Hill told Bloomberg that he’s confident that all of the Grand Sports will be sold within 12 months, and that would be much harder to do if prospective buyers have any idea of what the car’s successor will be like. That moment can’t come too soon, considering we can’t wait to see what’s next.